California Watch declares itself a success

California Watch has been at it for a year now. They sort of define the concept of hit the ground running, at least for media startups. From editorial director Mark Katches' blog post:

The mission here is to deliver rigorous, credible journalism that meets the highest possible standards and touches the lives of Californians. To that end, we have published 34 stories on topics spanning from early childhood education to elder care. We've identified tens of millions of dollars of questionable government spending. And we've exposed injustices – all without a single request for a correction. While experimenting with the new model of journalism, we've occasionally failed, flopped and floundered. And thank goodness for that. Because if we're not taking chances and pushing boundaries, leaving our comfort zones, we're not trying hard enough. When I look around at all the creative, energetic people who work here, I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

In terms of sheer size, we've increased our staff from six full-time reporters. Today we’ve nearly doubled the reporting muscle with a team that stands at 11 full-time reporters, by far the largest investigative team operating in the state. Among them are winners of the prestigious George Polk Award, the National Journalism Award and the Pulitzer Prize....

Our formula appears to be working. We hired terrific investigative reporters and attached them to specialty beats – topic areas that Californians care deeply about but aren’t typically covered from a statewide view.

Our investigative beats include health and welfare, public safety, money and politics, K-12 schools, higher education and the environment. We’ve relied on a strong group of freelance journalists to round out our reporting, and we’ve tapped the resources of our parent Center for Investigative Reporting to boost coverage of law enforcement, immigration and the environment. Our collaboration with KQED has allowed California Watch to broadcast most of our stories on public radio.

This weekend California Watch will report on why some hospitals in California are more likely to perform cesarean sections. More than a dozen media outlets are on board to run the package, Katches says.